SYRIA AND THE BEDUIN
SIR,—May I, as one who knows the Aleppo district and the Beduins of that part of Syria, say that I entirely agree with all that Mr. Brian Stuart says in the excellent article of his published in your issue of July 6th? The mild expostulation from the British Syrian Mission is understand- able and merely corrects an impression—possibly inadvertent—that the Americans are the only pebbles on the educational beach in Syria. All the places mentioned by Mr. Maitland-Kirwan are either in the south of Syria or in the Lebanon. Mr. Stuart was writing of Aleppo and the north—an area dominated, so far as schools are concerned, by the American College in Aleppo. (There are probably other schools doing excellent work in Winchester, but there is only one " Winchester.").
Mr. Fedden's statistics for 1912 are interesting but somewhat beside the point. No doubt some x-million children attended school in Great Britain during 1945, but it does not follow that they all benefited equally. My own opinion, based on some years of observation and residence, is that Mr. Stuart is correct and that it is the Americans who have brought real education to Syria. I feel that both your correspondents are con- fusing Syria with the Lebanon. In the latter country there are hundreds of French and Armenian schools, all of them assisting to educate the Townee. But I have never heard of a Beduin sending his son to one of them ! —I am, Sir, yours very truly,
DESMOND MURRAY-GRAHAM.
Stentwood House, Dunkeswell, Near Honiton, Devon.
Previous page
